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Do the folk actually hold folk-economic beliefs?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2018

Ben M. Tappin ,
Robert Ross  and
Ryan T. McKay
Ben M. Tappin
Affiliation:
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom. benmtappin@googlemail.comryan.mckay@rhul.ac.ukhttp://pc.rhul.ac.uk/sites/mab-lab/
Robert Ross
Affiliation:
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom. benmtappin@googlemail.comryan.mckay@rhul.ac.ukhttp://pc.rhul.ac.uk/sites/mab-lab/ Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UU, United Kingdom. robross46@gmail.comhttp://www.bristol.ac.uk/school-of-arts/people/robert-ross/index.html
Ryan T. McKay
Affiliation:
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, United Kingdom. benmtappin@googlemail.comryan.mckay@rhul.ac.ukhttp://pc.rhul.ac.uk/sites/mab-lab/
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Abstract

Boyer & Petersen (B&P) argue that folk-economic beliefs are widespread – shaped by evolved cognitive systems – and they offer exemplar beliefs to illustrate their thesis. In this commentary, we highlight evidence of substantial variation in one of these exemplars: beliefs about immigration. Contra claims by B&P, we argue that the balance of this evidence suggests the “folk” may actually hold positive beliefs about the economic impact of immigration.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 41 , 2018 , e190
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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